topic Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions in Credit Cards

Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:00:28 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I'm contemplating applying for this card for the 50,000 points if you spend $1000 promo. I have scores in the 800's so I'm not worried about approval. Two questions:

I currently have a Chase Freedom with a 17k limit. If I applied for this card, spent the $1000 dollars, received and redeemed the 50,000 points and then cancelled the card, will that affect anything with my Chase Freedom card? I don't have a need for this card but the $500 in gift cards is an awesome deal and will be easy to obtain since my wife and I spend thousands on our Freedom card each month.

Lastly, does anyone know when they bill the annual fee? Does that get charged to my card when I sign up or if I cancel the card before the year will I not get hit with the $69 annual fee?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Cdnewmanpac — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:13:21 GMT

1. Annual fee is billed when you activate the card.

2. Chase has a maximum credit limit per customer. If you are near your max, some people have had to shift credit from their existing chase card to get another. You would then have to go though the process in reverse when you cancelled. That's the only impact I could see.

3. Check the t and c, because I remember at least one airline card I looked at recently required you to keep the card for a specified period or they would take back the bonus miles. Since I have the sw card, that might have been where I saw it. Not sure, though.

4. I don't see how the 50k miles=500 in gift cards. If I remember correctly,the value when trading miles for gift cards isn't great. Did you verify this?

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:25:03 GMT

Thanks for the info. I think that you're right on all accounts, so I don't think I will apppy for this card. Thanks again for the info.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:36:09 GMT

Number 1 is wrong. The annual fee is waived the first year so you won't get charged the fee unless you keep it for longer than a year.

Yes you can use your southwest RR points for gift cards but that would be going through southwest and not Chase. I am pretty sure southwest has an area to redeem for gift cards.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Cdnewmanpac — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:49:28 GMT

The current offer on the chase web site makes no mention of waiving the annual fee. The previous offer didn't waive the annual fee. Minebilled the day I activated the card. Curious where you got that information.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:32:31 GMT

Yep I stand corrected. I don't see anything about the fee waived the first year on the Chase website. Just an assumption since I have never seen a prime travel card that didn't waive the fee for the first year, unless there might be other referrals out there that waive the fee.

I guess there is a little bit of an annual fee waiver with the anniversary bonus, but unless you fly southwest often this card doesn't seem to be worth it aside from the signup bonus.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:16:16 GMT

UPDATE! My coworker received this card and verified that the 50,000 bonus points are just that - bonus points - and they can be redeemed for giftcards at a rate of 100 points for every dollar. He redeemed his points for $500 in Amazon gift cards. So with this information, I decided to apply for the card and was instantly approved for a credit line of $20,000

I'm looking forward to receiving this card and getting that 50,000 point bonus. I'm not sure I will use the card much after that, but those 50,000 points will be great for gift cards and maybe a little bit of travel since my wife and I still need to book our airfare for our trip to Jamaica next year.

Thanks everyone!

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Open123 — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:21:36 GMT

With Chase, they stipulate if the card is not open for 6 months, they reserve the right to "clawback" the rewards miles.

Chase seldomly excercises this right, but it has been known to happen. Of course, if you cash them out, then there isn't anything to clawback; but, in that case, be wary of adverse action.

If possible, I'd try to keep it open for at least 6 months.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:24:17 GMT

Good advice. Thank you!

I plan on keeping the card open until my anniversary date rolls around and the annual fee is due again. I don't think I will have a real use of this card but will play the game for 11 months or so.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

MsLadyRover — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:27:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
UPDATE! My coworker received this card and verified that the 50,000 bonus points are just that - bonus points - and they can be redeemed for giftcards at a rate of 100 points for every dollar. He redeemed his points for $500 in Amazon gift cards. So with this information, I decided to apply for the card and was instantly approved for a credit line of $20,000

I'm looking forward to receiving this card and getting that 50,000 point bonus. I'm not sure I will use the card much after that, but those 50,000 points will be great for gift cards and maybe a little bit of travel since my wife and I still need to book our airfare for our trip to Jamaica next year.

Thanks everyone!

AWESOME limit!! Big Congrats to you!

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:21:21 GMT

Congrats!

Of course the big question. Let us know if the annual fee posts. I am definitely curious if it is waived the first year or not.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

noobody — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:40:39 GMT

annual fee will be billed on first statement.

points can be redeem to gift card only if your credit card is still active.

points can be redeem as sw airline tickets even if you closed the credit card account.

Re: Chase Southwest 50,000 Point Bonus - Questions

ceejx — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:09:32 GMT

I know this is an older thread, but since halloween was just a few days ago, it would be ok to bring one back from the dead.

Just wanted to add, in case somebody else searches this like I did, that you also get 3,000 bonus points each anniversary, so yeah you'll spend $65 in annual fee, the 3,000 is equiv to $50 towards southwest flights, not a bad deal if I say so myself.